1My son, pay attention to my wisdom,

Incline your ear to my understanding,

2So that you may maintain discretion

And your lips may comply with knowledge.

3For the lips of an [a]adulteress drip honey,

And her [b]speech is smoother than oil;

4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5Her feet go down to death,

Her steps take hold of Sheol.

6[c]She does not ponder the path of life;

Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

7Now then, my sons, listen to me

And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

8Keep your way far from her,

And do not go near the door of her house,

9Otherwise you will give your vigor to others,

And your years to the cruel one;

10And strangers will be filled with your strength,

And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;

11And you will groan [d]in [e]the end,

When your flesh and your body are consumed;

12And you say, “How I hated instruction!

And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke!

13“I did not listen to the voice of my teachers,

Nor incline my ear to my instructors!

14“I was almost in total ruin

In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

15Drink water from your own cistern,

And [f]fresh water from your own well.

16Should your springs overflow into the street,

Streams of water in the public squares?

17Let them be yours alone,

And not for strangers with you.

18Let your fountain be blessed,

And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19Like a loving doe and a graceful mountain goat,

Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;

Be [g]exhilarated always with her love.

20For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an [h]adulteress,

And embrace the breasts of a foreigner?

21For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD,

And He observes all his paths.

22His own wrongdoings will trap the wicked,

And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.

23He will die for lack of instruction,

And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.